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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25691110">The Monster with her Best Friend's Face</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChipAndDealer/pseuds/ChipAndDealer'>ChipAndDealer</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Because by god someone has to be, Daphne Greengrass would be in this one if I allowed her to be in any of my fics, Deconstruction, Gen, Grey Harry Tropes, Grey Harry deconstruction, In defense of S.P.E.W., Morally Grey Harry Potter, One Shot, Peggy Sue, Time Travel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 07:07:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,876</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25691110</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChipAndDealer/pseuds/ChipAndDealer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Her friend was gone, his brain usurped by memories and magic he never should have had, murdered in an instant. The monster was all that was left.</p>
<p>How wonderful time travel was, that it could kill the legendary Boy-Who-Lived so easily.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>44</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Monster with her Best Friend's Face</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The party was magnificent. There was simply no other word for it. The wine was ancient, expensive, the venue unparalleled, and there wasn't a single person in the room dressed in less than their very finest, which, for some families was very fine indeed.</p>
<p>Hermione felt sick.</p>
<p>She smiled, as was proper, she mingled and made smalltalk, all keeping one eye out for him. Infatuation would have been easy, love manageable, but it wasn't with a schoolgirlish fancy her heart beat faster whenever she spied someone who looked like him moving closer, it was with fear.</p>
<p>Snape was murdered last night.</p>
<p>Discovered in his office, dead, the words 'clear your mind' carved cruelly into his forehead with jagged letters, they found him. The aurors had been in there the better part of a day, scouring it for magical traces, bits of hair, a fingerprint, but finding nothing. They didn't know who did it.</p>
<p>Hermione did.</p>
<p>He was easy smiles and effortless magic. He was money, rich with gold that bled from his hands. He was a monster, with black hair and green eyes; a monster that wore her best friend's face.</p>
<p>Snape was murdered last night. He was throwing a party.</p>
<p>"Are you having fun, Hermione?" The airy voice of Luna stroked her ear, and she repressed a shudder. "You've got quite a few Gimbles on your shoulder. They're attracted to distress, you know."</p>
<p>How much Luna knew was something of a mystery to her. The monster hadn't been around more than a few days before she hung off him like a hat on a hook. Did she know what he had done? Did she care?</p>
<p>"I'm fine, Luna," Hermione assured her. "Just need a little fresh air." She started to move away, but Luna called after her.</p>
<p>"You really should take care of those Gimbles," she warned. "They can get nasty if you leave them alone for too long."</p>
<p>Was that a threat? Hermione turned, slowly, but Luna's smile was still placid as ever. "I'll... keep that in mind."</p>
<p>Luna waved. "Have a nice walk. The rose garden is quite lovely."</p>
<p>Hermione nodded, woodenly, and nearly ran outside, into the fresh, if still suffocating, air. She gripped the silver railing on the outside balcony, grimacing when she realized it was carved in the shape of a snake. Slytherin manor, indeed.</p>
<p>Slytherin, Potter, Peverell, and Black, no one had claimed so many titles in one day. Hermione used to think Harry would actually start changing things, once he got some real political power, make things better. But then, this wasn't really Harry.</p>
<p>Oh, he called himself Harry, and there were moments in between feats of impossible magic and patronizing lectures, where she could even see flashes of what must have been Harry, sometime long ago. But he was no more Harry than she was. She knew this.</p>
<p>It didn't make it any easier when he smiled with Harry's face, spoke with his voice, and acted like he could call her his friend.</p>
<p>There was a soft pop as a house elf appeared beside her. "Is there something wrong, Missy Hermy? Master doesn't like seeing you upset."</p>
<p>"Please," she whispered, squeezing her eyes shut. "Just leave me alone."</p>
<p>She heard another pop as the elf obeyed her wishes.</p>
<p>'Hermione, this whole S.P.E.W. thing is ridiculous,' the monster's voice whispered in her memory. 'House elves love to serve, it's what they live for. They're not people. You can't keep comparing them to humans.'</p>
<p>Neither Harry nor the monster were ever very fond of history. She wondered, though, what they would think to see words like that reflected to justify countless other slavery systems throughout time.</p>
<p>They love to serve.</p>
<p>It's what they live for.</p>
<p>They're not people.</p>
<p>She shook her head. The monster probably wouldn't even care. Who he hurt, what rules he broke, none of that was important to him.</p>
<p>"Hermione?" Ginny's concerned voice broke her from her ruminations. "What are you doing all the way out here? Harry's just about to make a speech."</p>
<p>'It's not Harry,' she longed to say. 'Harry wouldn't curse your brother to the point he ended up in Saint Mungoes.' But her tongue stilled before she could utter the words.</p>
<p>Talking to any of the Weasleys about Ron gave them this glassy look, like they couldn't understand a word she was saying. She would explain, or lecture, or scream, none of it made any difference.</p>
<p>"I'm just tired, Ginny." So tired. "Wanted some fresh air."</p>
<p>He said he was a time traveler. She had laughed. It was so funny, at the time. After everything that happened with Voldemort, with the Triwizard Tournament, then Umbridge, the idea that Harry was starting to crack up just made the greatest topping to the horribleness pie. It was better to laugh than to cry, anyway. She felt like going crazy, herself.</p>
<p>Then he had proven it. Knowledge he shouldn't have had, powers that never existed, he put it on display like a corner store magician. It was exciting, at first. A genuine time traveler, full to the brim with undiscovered knowledge, her friend no less.</p>
<p>Her friend was gone, his brain usurped by memories and magic he never should have had, murdered in an instant. The monster was all that was left.</p>
<p>How wonderful time travel was, that it could kill the legendary Boy-Who-Lived so easily.</p>
<p>"Is something wrong?" Ginny touched Hermione's shoulder, concern etched into her brow. "I can get Harry, if you-"</p>
<p>"No," Hermione nearly screamed. After a moment, she cleared her throat and gently removed Ginny's hand. "No, that won't be necessary, thank you. Really, I just want to be alone right now."</p>
<p>Ginny nodded, slowly, unsure, before acquiescing and slipping inside the ballroom once more.</p>
<p>Hermione sagged under the weight of a sigh, removing her wand from its place in her hairbun. With a wave toward the ground, she created a shimmering space and she jumped off the balcony to land on it, quietly breaking her fall before she dismissed it.</p>
<p>The grounds around her were vast, lit only by the house behind and the moon above, but she knew her way around well enough. She'd already studied maps of the estate.</p>
<p>It was only a little after school had started, the monster attacked Ron. He had spent the first week or so doing his best to ignore him, but apparently one day he just snapped. He didn't kill him, but with the way Ron's flesh bubbled and twisted, warped by some unfortunate magics, that almost seemed crueler. Even now, the healer's hadn't been successful in reversing the damage.</p>
<p>The monster said Ron betrayed them in the future, to Voldemort, to Dumbledore, the story seemed to change. Hermione tried pressing him for details more than once, but the answers he gave were vague at best.</p>
<p>Jealousy? Pride? Did Ron really feel those strongly enough to abandon all his principles, betray his friends and family?</p>
<p>Somehow, Hermione doubted it.</p>
<p>He did other things, of course. Draco Malfoy was found tortured. He destroyed the homes and vaults of countless Death Eaters. Most of what he did, Hermione only discovered afterwards, like when the Daily Prophet reported the gruesome killing of nearly every prisoner in Azkaban.</p>
<p>It should have felt like a victory, a stab against the darkness, when really it just made her stomach churn. Torture, destruction, death, how could she possibly view that as a heroic act?</p>
<p>"You missed my speech." His tone was amused, patronizing. This and hatred seemed to be the only two settings his voice had, though maybe that was more a product of his personality than anything.</p>
<p>She turned to see him. Lord Slytherin, Lord Potter, a handful of other titles also applied. She shook her head, 'the monster' was a just appellation. "Would it have changed my mind?" She asked, unable to help glaring at the dangerous man.</p>
<p>He sighed, the black cloak wrapped around him ruffling in the early Autumn breeze. "I don't want to be your enemy, Hermione. I'm trying to save the world."</p>
<p>"For god's sakes, Voldemort is dead," she shouted. "What could you possibly be saving the world from?"</p>
<p>His mouth curled into a frown. "There's more wrong with this world than just Voldemort."</p>
<p>"On that, we most certainly agree," she shot back, coldly.</p>
<p>His eyes flicked downward, to her hand. "Your wand's drawn."</p>
<p>Her eyes did the same. "So it is."</p>
<p>"Why?" He asked, impassively.</p>
<p>She squeezed the wand tighter. "I miss the way he'd look at everything," she whispered.</p>
<p>The monster raised an eyebrow. "What?"</p>
<p>"I can never look at anything without wondering why, or having mechanics and pages of notes flit through my memory." She looked up at the sky, the stars shining so much brighter than in London. "But the way he'd look at magic with so much wonder, like he could stand there next to a floating teacup until the end of time, perfectly content; I miss that."</p>
<p>He took a step forward, but she took a step back to match it. "Who are you talking about?"</p>
<p>Hermione laughed, ignoring him, her eyes glazed over with fond remembrance. "I miss the way he always trusted me to have an answer, even when I hadn't the foggiest idea what to do. It was... nice to know he believed in me." Her smile faltered.</p>
<p>"Hermione-" the monster reached out, taking a step forward again, but once more she retreated the same distance.</p>
<p>"We used to have terrible rows," Hermione continued. "But, somehow, I miss those, too. I'd nag at him to study more, take his responsibilities seriously, and he'd nag at me to get out of the library and have a snowball fight, or run around, play a game. We'd argue, sometimes one of us would take it too far, and the other would be there for that, too. I miss forcing him to read. I miss getting him mad. I miss saying sorry to him." Tears pooled in her eyes before finally falling to the ground as quiet sobs wracked her frame. "I'm sorry."</p>
<p>The monster took another step forward, but this time she leveled her wand at him, still glaring at him through watery eyes. "Hermione, you know I hate to see you cry."</p>
<p>"I probably sound a bit mad now, rambling on like this." She took another few steps back, her wand still pointed at him. "It's just, I never really got to say goodbye, before, so I wanted to do that now."</p>
<p>The monster's eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean, goodb-" his eyes widened. She was right outside the ward line. "The anti-apparation ward," he breathed.</p>
<p>She gave a wan smile, tears still streaming down her face. She was looking at him, but her gaze passed straight through, like she saw someone else where he was standing. "Goodbye, Harry Potter."</p>
<p>His wand flicked to his hand in an instant and he screamed a stunner, the dark red curse hurtling toward her.</p>
<p>With a crack, she disappeared.</p>
<p>The curse crashed into the undergrowth, useless, and its caster shook with impotent rage. The party was in full swing behind him, with what almost seemed like every wizarding family in Britain attending.</p>
<p>The monster was alone.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>As is tradition for me, I guess, this is motivated by spite. Mainly by just how often these super powerful time traveling Harry's feel the need to conscript House Elves, then lecture Hermione about how stupid fighting for the rights of a universally enslaved race is when they systems in place for that slavery can benefit them.</p>
<p>If you don't read a lot of Harry Peggy Sues, particularly Grey Harry ones, this probably sounds a bit mad, but trust me it shows up more often than you'd think. This is not the first or last time I'll be doing HP Peggy Sue deconstructions, so if you're interested in that, stick around.</p>
<p>Thanks for reading,<br/>-Dealer</p></blockquote></div></div>
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